Living in the Washington DC metro area this time of year means cherry blossoms. The entire city celebrates these harbingers of spring. Mrs. C and I visit every year but we like going in the odd hours when there are less crowds. I’ve written in the past about visiting the charry blossoms by the light of the moon. My other favorite time is at sunrise, as the sun crests the horizon making the delicate pink petals glow with light. Acqua di Parma Sakura reminds me of this.

Francois Demachy

Sakura is part of the 10-member collection called Signatures of the Sun released last fall. I previously reviewed Osmanthus when I received them. Perfumer Francois Demachy is the perfumer behind all of them. By seeing the single ingredient names you could be expecting soliflores. He has done something slightly different. The name on the bottle is the focus, he just chooses some back-up singers who also make their presence felt. Over the months I’ve had the collection it has impressed me for the delicacy of the compositions. Sakura is the best example of it.

The opening of Sakura is similar to all the other Signatures of the Sun fragrances; citrus as interpreted via Italian aesthetic. It has almost become the signature of Acqua di Parma. For Sakura M. Demachy employs a mandarin orange given a green herbal shading through baie rose. Citrus is easy to compare to sunlight. This is one of those accords as the orange is that glowing sun just on the horizon while the baie rose is reminiscent of the dewy grass. The cherry blossom accord at the heart of this is delicate given expansiveness through the support of jasmine. When you are amidst the cherry blossoms at dawn there always seems like a moment, as the sun’s rays hit them, they release their scent in greeting. That is what this smells like. A series of white musks continue to add an airiness to the overall effect throughout the remainder of its time.

Sakura has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

I don’t know if they have cherry trees in Italy. If they do, I imagine this is what a Mediterranean Sakura smells like at dawn.

Disclosure: This review is based on samples provided by Acqua di Parma.